Bulgaria: Postponed national test of BG-Alert system to be held on October 17

The test of the BG-Alert system that was to have been held on October 1 but was postponed, will be held on October 17, the Interior Ministry said.

The test, from 1pm to 1.30pm, will involve “a functional check of all system components,” the ministry said.

Through the BG-Alert System, a message containing text in Bulgarian and English will be distributed to mobile devices of citizens throughout the country.

The message will be received once, accompanied by a specific sound and/or vibration, it said.

Test messages from BG-Alert are manageable and can be enabled/disabled by users. Information about this may be found at this link, in Bulgarian.

The October 1 test, which was to have involved BG-Alert and the civil defence siren system, was postponed at short notice, with the ministry citing the situation in the Middle East and the need to avoid causing panic.